Your last generator Maintenance Run

[Fallon]

How many amps/watts does the pump use when starting???

SR

1.2@ run 1.5@ start on 240v when I measured earlier today. It seemed suspiciously low at the 300-400 watt range. I was expecting something closer to 1kw running.

 

[Fallon]

For 240v, I think of 5kw gens as the general lower limit. Honda does have a 4kw Commercial unit

https://powerequipment.honda.ca/generators/commercial-4000-gfci but it's pricier than many 5kw units.

A small suitcase 2kw is very useful, because of it's easy portability, and typically gentle fuel consumption, but don't expect to find 240Vac support. Honda, Yamaha, Champion and others offer products of that style.

For your well, you might consider a dedicated DC/AC inverter, with appropriate batteries. One example:

Aims PWRINV5K2412W 5 Watt 12V 24VAC 6HZ | Inverters R Us

Note that it ^ is 240Vac only. I have no experience with that make/model, just citing it as a price point..... split-phase ones are available (240/120 output), for more money.....

Briggs used to have a table in their olde printed manuals, that gave you some idea of the relationship between Starting Watts required, vs. Running Watts...... it's a lot higher than most people expect, and not readily captured with what most people have at home for instrumentation.

Couldn't find that Briggs table online.... but found something better......

What Size Generator Do You Need?

Generic ^, but informative if you haven't seen something like it before. Furnace Fan has quite a range, as one example of Surge.....

Clean voltage output is desirable in general, obviously, but the above table highlights how easy it is to unintentionally create mini/fast brownouts with a small gen..... they might get condemned for "cleanliness", when it's nothing more than (very) short-term overload causing problems......

Rgds, D.

Thanks. That's kind of what I was afraid of from the little research I'd done.

I may look at the suitcase Hondas still. Heat is my primary concern so we dont burst pipes or freeze ourselves. I need to stockpile a 55 gallon drum of water anyway & can make do with that instead of a well for a few days.

 

[goeduck]

Hmmm... screw in LED's I can't comment to much regarding outdoor. I use a few in 'covered' porch lights and have had zero issues. Have other LED's (sealed) that are getting 'weathered' with no problems as well.

Similar experience here. We do not get extreme cold weather but we sure get wet weather. I make sure the bases are pointed or sloped downward and have no LED issues outdoors. I have over a dozen LEDs outside.

 

[daugen]

Our local power company is switching out all their pole lights, which they charge so much per pole per month for, to LED lights and have lowered the monthly charge. I have one over my barn, still the old style, and am waiting for it to die a natural death. It's their property, not mine, and they maintain it, including bringing in the bucket truck to change out the light.

I've replaced all the ceiling lights in my barn to "corn" style LEDs with 4-6000 lumens each. Makes a big difference in there. That area is cold and damp all winter long, and so far so good.

I've used a UPS on my computer for many years, not just for when power totally fails, since I have a whole house gen, but to buffer the surges and weather the short brownouts until the gen comes on.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Regarding the flashing "power restoral light/horn"



Within this control box, I have a small transformer to make 10VAC and an old telephone system interupter, basically a motor and cam driven switch. Anyway, this makes the lamp flash quicker and the horn go at telephone ring intervals.

I would LOVE to use an LED, but they don't come on quickly enough to use them for flashing (I believe). Also, I don't think you can get a bright one in the short, oven bulb, type size.

Power went out again this morning. I didn't even know. I was alerted by Text msg from my monitoring station. A neighbor called. The Utility was not even aware of the outage and there were no weather conditions at all. Strange. I never even bothered to get out of bed and it came back an hour or so later.

 

[3930dave]

Thanks. That's kind of what I was afraid of from the little research I'd done.

I may look at the suitcase Hondas still. Heat is my primary concern so we dont burst pipes or freeze ourselves. I need to stockpile a 55 gallon drum of water anyway & can make do with that instead of a well for a few days.

Many of the suitcases today can be paralleled for more power..... nice option, and popular with RV boon-dockers.

If I was only going to buy one, I'd take a serious look at this one..... I think it's a new Honda model.....

https://powerequipment.honda.ca/generators/EG2800iC#specifications

Not suitcase format ^, but looks like good watts/$ in a Honda inverter (higher capacity than the suitcases, at around the same price-point....). N.B. that it can't be paralleled.

Rgds, D.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

If I was only going to buy one, I'd take a serious look at this one..... I think it's a new Honda model.....

https://powerequipment.honda.ca/generators/EG2800iC#specifications

Rgds, D.

I have that generator, it's a nice generator...

In fact, I used it today, it starts easy and runs very good.

SR

 

[Fallon]

Many of the suitcases today can be paralleled for more power..... nice option, and popular with RV boon-dockers.

If I was only going to buy one, I'd take a serious look at this one..... I think it's a new Honda model.....

https://powerequipment.honda.ca/generators/EG2800iC#specifications

Not suitcase format ^, but looks like good watts/$ in a Honda inverter (higher capacity than the suitcases, at around the same price-point....). N.B. that it can't be paralleled.

Rgds, D.

Unfortunately adding them in parallel gets you more amps & watts, but not more volts. If I was within the wattage range I could probably re-wire most any 240v motor I had... except for the on over 200' down my well.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

True, you would need to move up to a contractor model to get 240v in a portable unless you spend big $ for a large inverter unit.

But not having everything crammed into a suitcase style unit does bring the cost down... you can get a 5500W Yamaha for around $1100 and it will outlast just about anything. For inverter units you’re into the 6kW and $3k range to get 240V. For $1400 you get into 7kW range with electric start which seems more appealing to me as I get older.

Honda has the name but the Yamaha’s are very high quality and have the longest EPA engine life ratings in the industry. When I worked with these (several years ago now) most of our contractor customers that run theirs 50 or 60 hours a week who had these had given up on all the other brands they had and only bought Yamaha. Same could probably be said for other brands too but that was what I saw.

 

[Industrial Toys]

My friends that do inverter and generator installs on Utility and service vehicles only use the Yahmahas when a small set is called for. They have had excellent service from these units.